This week’s podcast comes from the Irish Challenge at the K Club where newly crowned Challenge Tour winner Conor Purcell joining the lads after clinching his maiden win at last week’s NI Open.
[Music] Hey everybody and welcome along to this week’s edition of the Irish Golfer Podcast. Peter Finnen here and joined by Ronan McNamara. Where are we? And uh Ireland’s latest challenge tour winner Connor Pcel as well. How are you Connor? Yeah, all is good. Thanks for having me on. We’re here at the K Club on the eve of the Irish Challenge. So, uh I suppose before we get stuck into it, this podcast is brought to you in association with Cleveland Shrixen. So, Shrexen have designed the new QSTAR and Qstar Tour Divoid golf balls to give moderate swing speed players a tour level ball that delivers maximum green spide spin, more distance, and more control. To find your nearest stockist, our dealer, go to eu.dunlopsports.com/shr. dunlopsports.com/shrixen. You’re a Shrixen player yourself as well, aren’t you? I am and I have been since I turned pro, so um yeah, it’s been a good relationship and can’t complain with the stuff right now. What ball are you using actually? Uh Shicks and Diamond. So, the sort of inbetweeny one. Yeah, they brought it out a couple years ago for I think it was Brooks who was the first one to get this one out. Um and yeah, I’ve always been quite a low spin player, so this one um has definitely added spin to the game. Ideal. M ideal. Nice way to get started off. Nice little sponsors plug. Um yeah, it’s been an unbelievable week. Firstly, super like congrats. It’s been like us waiting for a challenge tour winner has been a long time in the Gulf media in Ireland. Like it’s been it’s hard to believe it’s that long since we’ve had our last uh challenge tour winner. But um to get it in the fashion that you did as well like we we’ll go a little bit deeper into it. But the uh to do it on home soil like to have backto-back events we just before we came on air I asked you this and to have backto-back events one in Galor and one down here at the K club to win the first one and to be able to be at home to actually soak it in and celebrate like it’s been four or five days now. How has that been or how how are you feeling about it? Yeah, it’s amazing. And I think anyone who’s been lucky enough to experience a win, I think uh it’s it’s quite easy for it to go by in a bit of a flash. Um and I was just I was so lucky to have everyone there first of all watching it with me. Um and then we like you said, we’re playing at home again this week. We all we all drove home Sunday evening and and made sure to celebrate and just having having an extra week in my own bed and and letting it soak in and getting another crack again this week. Um couldn’t have asked for a better first one. Did he go full Shane Larry on it? Absolutely. Yeah. All all the lads out support me definitely had a few beers in them out in the course. So they were uh more than ready to add a few more to that. Um, so what was Sunday night into Monday? You just Yeah, we just we drove home. Actually, the lads who were out to support me, my mates from school, they went straight from the course into the pub in their golf gear. Um, I went home, had a quick shower and change and and went in and yeah, there was a great reception there. Um, everyone was just so happy and I think what’s so cool is I kind of felt like the win was more than just me winning. Everyone was so happy and the whole country is delighted. As we said, we’ve waited a long time for an Irish winner. They really are. Like we really back our own in this country so well. And I even remember the last time like we’re sitting here in the media center on the balcony looking out the 18th and the last time this event was here. You were right in the heat of it then as well and Gary Hurley was and John O Murf was there as well and the crowds and how we get behind our own. It’s kind of unseen on the challenge tour to get that and and you got a vibe of that up in Galorm as well. Uh like you had a lot of support there. It felt like you were playing in Dublin, not in Balamina. Yeah. Yeah. It’s massive. Um anytime we play at home, I’ve always I’ve I’ve just been so excited to to play in front of people because most people don’t see it, but a challenge tour event is very quiet. Even last group on Sunday, I’ve been in a few of them and you might have anywhere from 10 to 30 people out watching and um there’s not a huge amount of atmosphere and for Galor last week it was just it felt like a tour event when you got to 18. There was plenty of people there um huge media presence and again this week everyone’s kind of gunning for a big week and and looking forward to it. It’s a tricky course Galgo. Really hard. I’ve actually I’ve had horrendous success there. Um don’t think I made a cut last few times I played. So yeah, just sat down with um with my caddy, put out a a really good plan for the week. Um tried to block out all the the negative thoughts I had about the golf course and all the bad T- shots I’ve hit and and managed to hit some good ones. Uh yeah. How does it feel to be a tour winner, Connor? because as you kind of alluded to there, you were knocking on the door for a while, particularly this year, and it didn’t quite happen and you kind of had niffy start in the final round, then you’re kind of brought it back again. Like, how does it feel to have finally got over the line? Yeah, there’s an element of relief there. I I definitely felt like I’ve always known I’ve been capable of doing it, but um someone said to me this week, it’s all it’s all well and good telling yourself you’re going to get a win one day, but actually doing it is is very satisfying for myself. Um everyone around me, everyone who works with me as as a coach or or whatever the case may be. It’s just it’s very gratifying to see all the work you’ve put in since I started playing this game properly at 13 years of age. And here we are now having won on challenge tour. It’s pretty cool. Yeah, the eagle on the 10th then that was obviously a massive turning point for you. Yeah, even before that on eight um I was struggling. I’d missed a good few short puts uh early on. Hit a really really bad T- shot on eight. For anyone who knows Galorm, I hit it miles into the trees on the left. Um very difficult to even chip it out. I could only advance it 30 yards short of the fairway still. um and took a crack with 3-wood and hit it just short of the green into the roof and got up and down for a bogey. And that was a big swing because I’d missed some short puts and I held it from six foot there and just managed to to keep the ball rolling. held it from off the green on 10 and kind of from 10 on I felt like I was trying to win the tournament whereas the front nine I felt a little bit of a who was going to stumble less between me and but like it turned out to be some finish between yourself and whack him as well like was it enjoyable to be in that scenario as well as you know trying to go over the line? Yeah, 100%. I’ve I’ve definitely I’ve put myself in these positions before and I’ve probably not have enjoyed them as much as I should have. I’ve probably thought about the situation more than what it really is. And especially on that eighth hole, I kind of took a step back and I said, “It feels like the the biggest deal in the world right now, but in 10 years time, I probably won’t really think too much about this moment.” Although winning on the day is great, but it’s um hopefully it’s going to be a long career filled with plenty of success. It’s a tough thing to do to step back like that when you’re and and you have to have that experience of losing something or being in that situation that didn’t quite work out the way you wanted to actually convince yourself, hang on a minute here. I know these feelings. I’ve done this and I’m not going to I’m not going to this up. Not it up again, but I’m not I’m not going to let these emotions take over. I need to take stock here. That’s a tough thing to do in the heat of battle. Yeah, it is. And as cliche as it sounds, I’ve just I’ve had a lot of negative experiences in these situations before and I just had to pull on. I’m lucky that I I try learn from all these situations as much as I can. Um it it was funny what crept into my head. Uh there was a thought on the 7th is a part three there and the the pin was on the right for a couple days and there was water water short and right and last year I was in a lovely position playing in Headford in the Irish challenge and I think it was on Saturday where I flared it out to the right made double or triple I can’t remember at the time. Um and that kind of took me out of the tournament. Um, so I could lean on what I was feeling and what I was trying to do back last year in Headford and managed to hit um, some nice shots there last week. How you mentioned there 12 months ago like you were so disappointed with that weekend. I remember you came off the golf course. Like how much more of an improved player do you feel that you are compared to then? Yeah, it I wouldn’t say it’s night and day, but I think it’s just nice to know that I am learning from the if I was to have messed up again on the weekend, it would have been tough to swallow and obviously I would have um would have rued some of the mistakes I made, but I was managed to kind of take control of the situation in the heat of battle as you said. Um and yeah, just keep fighting till the end. And I it probably helped that Yoken was struggling a little bit as well. But yeah, from from hole I would say from hole nine onwards, I was I was fairly in control of my game. Yeah, you’ve said that the challenge tour is a tour you don’t want to be on for too long because you can get stuck there. You’ve kind of gone now from the outside looking in from the top 20. I think you’re into fourth place now in the road to Morca. Does your mindset change? You actually now starting to think, right, it’s in my hands now and maybe I can actually go and win the order of merit. Yeah, absolutely. um like it’s it’s amazing what a win can do for for ranking points out here and it just shows that you’re really never that far away like missing a cut the week before and going out and winning. Um feeling like probably you’re not as close to a win to all of a sudden feeling like now I can push on and try try climb up the rankings even further. Um, but yeah, it’s just about putting in the work, continuing to do what I’ve been doing the last few months, and um, yeah, keep working away. What do you learn from like what have you, it’s really deep question, but what what what have you learned from winning the diff is there anything that felt different that you will relay back on when you’re in that situation again and and just go through process-wise? Um, I would say that last week my preparation in the tournament before the event was really, really good. I kind of came up with all the scenarios that could happen. Um, just knowing that once you prepare and you go out there and you really engage what you’re trying to do, sometimes you can get into trying to avoid making mistakes mindset. Really trying to strive towards hitting good shots, making some birdies. um that all played a factor and for the whole week I was just I was within my own bubble. I’ve said it recently enough where I’ve I fully stopped looking at leaderboards. So it was funny. I I rocked up onto the tea on Saturday and the only thing I knew was I had gotten a text the night before saying my tea time and I was first. But I had no idea if I was tied for the lead or if who was close to me, how many shots away they were. And that was like that was rewarding to me because I was just like I know I’m doing what I want to do. That’s interesting because like it’s there aren’t too many leaderboards out in a challenger event anyway. So it can be it can be difficult maybe to know where you are when maybe you kind of should be looking. But um your progression over the last three or four years, Connor, has been very steady. Like you had the Alps, you played well enough to get a few challenge starts, played well enough to earn a full card, made the grand final. Now you’ve just kind of gone up a level. Do you kind of notice that in your own game? Yeah, I’ve always kind of thought that of myself. I never thought I’d turn pro and all of a sudden be a European Tour winner in my first year. I’d like to think that the way I I go about life is kind of gradual progression. And um not that I’m saying that if I was to get off this tour, I’d be confident in myself to just keep building on that and climb the ranks wherever I am. I don’t feel like I’m looking back at um at the last year wondering if I’m getting better. I just I just keep putting in the work and you’re kind of seeing the bulk of five years now that is getting me to this point. Now there’s 13 events left on the season still. Still quite a lot of events left to play. So you said about like having not to reassess your goals. You have a win now you’re in a much different position. How does your outlook change when you’re looking into the rest? I know it’s probably quite cliche of listen one event at a time but surely in the last week you’ve had to look at and go right now I’m where I I want to be where where is like where’s the limit for you now going this season. I’m quite lucky with the people I have around me that um I’d say they keep me very grounded and we don’t really think too far ahead. There’s there’s obviously there’s different stuff that’s that’ll go out um saying that oh you’re in a lovely position to get a card or whatever the case may be, but I’ve been putting in very consistent work this year and it hasn’t changed if I’ve missed a cut or if I’ve won the tournament last week. This week, Tuesday and Wednesday were the exact same as most Tuesday and Wednesdays out on tour this year. So, I’m not dwelling on what happened last week. It was great, but this is just a blank slate. Everyone starts at the same score and um yeah, we we just have to work hard and and try to get ourselves up there again. A lot of people look at a win on any professional tour and think it it was perfect golf to get perfect golf to win. Like just you’ve probably played better golf in tournaments and not won than you did in Galorm last week, which is mad to say, but like your golf last week was class. It was so good. But do you find that frustrating sometimes to you you’ve you’ve had some unbelievably good finishes like got into the mix at tournaments and let a few slip away and makes this one all the sweeter. Yeah, but again it goes back to how I kind of frame what a good week looks like. I don’t finish the week most weeks I don’t finish the week and if I finish 10th I’m I’m disappointed because I haven’t finished fifth. I I kind of set out a plan for the week. I set out some targets that I’m trying to achieve myself. And I have my own little wins within the the week itself. And it doesn’t have to be a win. Like this week I’m going into it and I have my own little targets written down. But if I was to go out and if I miss the cut or if I win the tournament, a successful week could still be missing the cut. Like once I carried my business how I wanted to. We we just got off from playing the pro on we actually played with Rona Milani earlier on and I said to Ran and I said yeah know it’s a good like it was a great win this place really suits your eye and he just turned around he said listen anywhere with grass on it at this stage suits Connor’s eye. Yeah. Like I feel like I’ve done a good job at adjusting to what the the tournament in front of me is asking of us. I’ve proven to myself that I can play good on on different grasses, on different climates. Um, so yeah, I’ve I’ve always enjoyed anytime we come to the K Club, it just feels like it’s like there’s more to it than a national event. Um, the K Club is so so big in the history of Irish golf and having held the RDER Cup like it’s just it would be amazing to to put your name on a list where you’ve won at the K Club as well. You already have. Yeah, I have. My first professional win. Your first professional win when you won the Irish Golfer event. Um, no. And like approaching this weekend, you’re obviously like there is a lot of pressure on um external pressures. cuz I know you probably don’t, but like you going to have a lot of friends. You’re going to have a lot of family. You’re going to draw a lot of neutral fans that maybe didn’t know much about you until before last week and uh we’ll you know we’ll follow you like just locals from here from around the Calder area that want to come and you you’ll draw a big crowd this week. Yeah, it’s going to be I’ve always said I’ve loved playing in front of people. Um, it actually helps me engage in the tournament because like I said, challenge tour events can sometimes feel a little bit flat when there’s no one watching. Yeah, I’m just really excited to to tee it up again. Obviously, everyone’s going to have expectations of me and they’d love me to do well, but once I can control the little monkey that’s in in my head, I’ll be I’ll be happy. Yeah, Ronan actually said to me uh just before we came on here, Connor, that it’s probably a shame that there isn’t more professional events on in Ireland because it’s such a nice run being up in Galor and being here and then being in Scotland actually next week as well is pretty good. But like there’s so much scope for having more tours here. We’ve great links courses, really really good Parkland courses as well. Yeah, I’ve always I’ I’d love the idea of having been on the challenge tour for a few years. It would be cool to see it have elements of a swing where if you came to Ireland or Scotland and you play a couple of Lynx courses in a row. That could be a nice little change up from the the everyday uh Parkland course that we play. But like playing Galorm and the K Club, you couldn’t have asked for two better courses that up there with some of the best that we’ll play all year. Yeah. And you’re someone who’s kind of come through adversity. you played Walker Cup in 2019, turned pro and then co kind of hit and kind of hampered that. Like what has it taken for you to sort of, you know, come through that because it wasn’t an easy start that you’ve had. Again, it’s very simple. The people around me have just been very supportive. We’ve had good plans in place and we haven’t really dwelled on the the time when when it was co I was I was happy taking time off golf when we get back into it. I wasn’t in any rush to to get out on tour and I think it’s just been a nice little progression the last few years and last week was just a a cherry on top. You’ve had to come back here as well. Um leading in here I mentioned our sponsors at the start of the week like it’s good for you as well to be able to give back during the week. You made some visits I seen as well to Manny Fleet and people like that that have flow gas guys and people that have really supported you and made like because this is an expensive thing to do like you could like even I know we were talking to Ronan earlier on as well and talking to him about the Alps last year wins twice still loses money over the season like it’s a really really important thing to attract sponsors into golf and for you to give back to them and to be able to visit them with a trophy this week must have been class. Yeah, massively. Like everyone knows golf is an expensive sport and ever since I turned pro, I wouldn’t have been able to do it off my own back. So to have have the backing that I’ve had since I’ve turned pro, everyone’s been a part of it. There’s obviously I have certain sponsors now, but everyone’s played a role in getting me to where I am today. Um, and it’s just it’s it’s even nice to see that they feel a little bit of this win as well, like you said. Um, I met up with with Matney Fleet this week straight after it and it’s just they’re as happy as I am and and that’s a a pretty cool thing. No, it’s good. You have anything else, Rowan? Uh, yeah, like Connor, just there’s a few players that were kind of in your situation, came through the Alps onto the challenge tour and maybe haven’t had that progression that that steady progression that you’ve had. Like what does it take to actually, you know, start on the Alps and get off it and then you keep going? I feel like I frame pro golf quite well in my head. I’m not really expecting anything or any anything flashy if I was to get off challenge tour and go on to DP. I know it’s going to be it’ll have its own challenges. It’s not all rosy. I kind of I’ve planned for every scenario if it’s going to be good or bad. And I’d like to think with with all the experiences I’ve had in the last few years that I can deal with whatever comes my way and and just keep um keep working with the people who are around me and if I’m struggling I’ll ask them for help and um yeah, we’ll hold ourselves accountable. Yeah, this week’s probably one of the easier weeks as well cuz as you said before to me you can be taken to some pretty obscure places far away from airports and renting cars and all that kind of jazz. Yeah, it’s lovely to be at home. Staying in my own bed for a week is lovely. Um, and yeah, I just I’m more excited to get going than than anxious or anything like that. I just uh I love tea up on home. So, yeah. And obviously like a DP World Tour card, it’s obviously on the cards now. There’s a good chance that that might happen. Um, Tom McKibben at the moment is Ireland’s only regular player on that tour and he might get a PJ tour card for next year. And if things go well, you could end up being our only player on the DP World Tour. Like, why do you think we’re kind of struggling to get players through in Europe particularly? I don’t know if there’s a a definite answer. I think golf is such an individual sport that I think it’s important that we all hold ourselves accountable to to certain standards we set ourselves. And I feel like I’ve known myself really well since day one. And I’ve really just pushed forward and tried to get the best out of myself. And I think if you look at anyone who’s done really well in their career, they’ve just they’ve become the best version of themselves. They’re not trying to mold into what tour life should be like. They’re just trying to be themselves. Um I feel like today I’ve done that job and it’s it’s important that I continue to do it. It’s a real family community as well, like in in the the golf scene in this country. You like, did many of the lads on the main tours reach out to you last week? Many of the other Irish lads send you messages or Well, actually, I I’m I’m not amazing with my phone. I don’t have social media during the week. I turned it on just to see a few things and it was just floods of messages. Um, so there’s an element of sorry to people I haven’t uh responded to. But during tournaments, I don’t look at social media, so I don’t really see the noise that’s going around. Um, got plenty of nice texts off off loads of people. So, just grateful for support and um yeah, I’d love to have a lot more Sundays like last one. Exactly. No, well, hopefully it’s this Sunday. Um, we can’t say enough how proud we are of how you’ve kicked on in your career uh to get another challenge to win. All from that first win here. All from that first win here. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. We we we we’ll take a small little come full circle this week. Come full circle back to the K club. Opposite side of the river. You’ll be grand. Um no, but it really is it’s it’s great to see you progress on so much and uh huge congrats on last week and best of luck this week and thanks a million. Hopefully this is the first of many. Yeah, hopefully. Thanks lads. All right. Cheers. Thanks Connor. Thanks. Don’t forget Connor teased it up this week at the Irish Challenge in the K Club. Entry is free into the K club on the Palmer South course this week. All you have to do is register for your tickets on the European tour website. Go to the challenge tour section. You can register for tickets there. Or if you can’t do that, just pitch up to the gate. They can take your details there and get you registered and get you entry for free. [Music] Hey, [Music]
